484 A. W. G. WILSON SHORELINE STUDIES ON ONTARIO AND ERIE 



land on tlie west. This bar is from two to three hundred yards in width] 

 and rises about 15 feet above lake level. It is composed of sand andj 

 gravel. The outer beach is wave swept and steeper than the inner slope, 

 which is grown over with grasses. The length of the bar is about 2 miles. 

 Between the bar and the old shore are extensive swamps containing much 

 peat. Soundings made to estimate the quantity of peat present have 

 shown the existence of other parallel bars with deep (15 feet) beds of 

 peat between them. The existence of these bars inside the present bar 

 shows that during the growth of the point the place of attachment of the 

 western tie bar has gradually shifted west as the growth of the point 

 progressed. 



The eastern or main portion of Point aux Pines consists wholly of sandl 

 and gravel. On its lakeward side it is bordered by the usual wide wave- 

 swept graded beach. The inner side is bordered by low, swampy areas. 

 The j)rogressive growth of the bar has gradually widened it at the south 

 end, so that it now has a width of about S^/o miles 4 miles south of where] 

 its shore end joins the mainland. Old dune lines and abandoned beach 

 lines can be readily located, particularly near the outer end of the spit. 

 Low dunes are also to be seen near the attached end of the spit formed by 

 sand which has been blown back from the present beach. The greater 

 portion of the point is timbered with white pine. 



Point Pelee. — Point Pelee is a triangular cuspate foreland with its 

 apex to the south. The base is about 5 miles across and the point pro- 

 jects southward about 10 miles. Only the outer 4 miles of the apex 

 of the point have been built by the present lake. The inner portion, now 

 a large swamp area, cut off from the lake on either side by high beach 

 ridges, is covered with a soil cap of black loam varying in thickness from 

 1 to about 4 feet; below the loam is a heavy bluish clay which carries a 

 few boulders and some fine gi'avel and is probably of glacial origin. 



The point differs from all other similar features on the lake, except 

 Point aux Pines, in that no distinguishable well marked abandoned shore- 

 line accordant with present lake level can be traced across its base. There 

 is an old shoreline, standing aj^proximately 8 feet above lake level, which 

 joins the present sea-cliffs both east and west of the point, but it obvi- 

 ously belongs to an earlier stage in the lake's history. 



Topographically this portion of Essex county is a plain with a gently 

 undulating surface. The initial point was formed by a light swell on 

 the surface of the plain, which caused the lake shore contour line to loop 

 southward, forming a low rounded point. This nearly flat point would 

 be exposed to the direct attack of lake waves, and in this attack the waves 

 would tend to cut the margin of the new point down to wave base and at 



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